'Groundhog Day' star Bill Murray's most delightful pop-ups

It was fate that Bill Murray starred in “Groundhog Day.” (Credit: Columbia Pictures)

Sure, Punxsutawney Phil is great and all, but the real magic happens when Groundhog Day star Bill Murray does some popping up of his own. It happens more than once a year, of course, in a wide range of places — from a random couple’s engagement photo shoot in Charleston, S.C., to a college party in St. Andrews, Scotland.

In honor of Groundhog Day on Feb. 2, check out a select few of Murray’s most delightful surprise appearances.

Eating a stranger’s fries

The truth is that Murray has been accused of stealing a stranger’s fries before, but he was caught on camera doing it at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport in August 2016. A Reddit posted wrote, “Seemed like he was just getting his friends to the airport; flight was delayed so they went for a bite.” He added that the incident “gave everyone in the restaurant a good laugh.”

Singing karaoke with strangers

Anyone who invites Murray to a social event should understand that there’s a small chance the star will actually show up. Eight years after making that famous karaoke scene in Lost in Translation, Murray appeared at a bash he had been invited to at Karaoke One in New York. Another person there noted that Murray was “super nice.” The Ghostbusters star reportedly sang Elvis Presley and bought everyone drinks.

Washing dishes at a college party

Are you noticing a theme here? Murray is a party guy. He knows how to have fun, sure, but he’s thoughtful too. Really. In 2006, the Associated Press confirmed an overseas newspaper report claiming that Murray had accompanied a 22-year-old woman he didn’t know to a get-together, where he drank vodka out of a coffee mug. He then slapped on an apron and proceeded to do the dishes. Have you invited him over to your place yet?

Crashing a couple’s engagement photo shoot

A wedding photographer shared that while snapping pics of a couple in downtown Charleston, S.C., she noticed that the two were a little … distracted. “I thought, ‘Who the heck is bothering them?’” photographer Raheel Gauba told the local Post and Courier in June 2014. “I turn around and it’s Bill Murray with his shirt up, belly out, tapping his belly and trying to make them laugh.”